Sears, Roebuck and Co.

Retail needs to adapt or die. That was the call to action sounded by Eddie Lampert, founder of ESL Partners, which controls about 60 percent of Sears Holdings. Lampert said changes in the retail industry have been great for consumers, but there's a question about whether they've been great for businesses. “J.C. Penney is in need of reinvention, Sears is in need of reinvention, Best Buy [is] in need of reinvention,” he said. “And that means that you’re going to have to try new things. That doesn’t mean you're going to be successful, but you have to try to change.”

_ EXCLUSIVE Eddie Lampert is cleaning out the closet at Sears, and hes not feeling sentimental about Lands End. The number-crunching hedge-fund tycoon who, as chairman of Sears Holdings, has lately been scrambling to raise cash amid heavy losses at the Sears and Kmart retail chains has quietly been shopping the Dodgeville Wis. mail-order catalog to potential buyers, The Post has learned. Lampert, who inherited Lands End when he took control of Sears in 2005 by merging it with Kmart, has approached a handful of private-equity firms as he looks to raise as much as $2 billion in cash,

Sears Holdings and Sonic Solutions have partnered to launch an instant access movie and television series download service for Sears and Kmart customers. The RoxioNow-powered Alphaline Entertainment service will offer customers the ability to download movies and television shows on the same day they are released on DVD and Blu-ray. Sonic and Sears are collaborating to embed the service through a chip, which will be included on portable media devices, Blu-ray disc players, mobile phones and high-definition television sets. "Collaborating with Sonic provides a great opportunity for Sears and Kmart to launch digital services for customers seeking even faster

Sears, saddled with extra space in its cavernous Sears department stores, is joining with hot fashion chain Forever 21 to expand the store-within-a-store concept. The move will give Sears rental revenue and also supply some much-needed fashion pizzazz for the retailer, which has been trying for years to make its apparel business, especially for young women, more appealing.

As part of its continuing efforts to shore up its online offerings, Sears says it is launching Sears.com Shoe Experience Website, a 450-brand emporium that it will push through social marketing efforts.

Sears has been delivering refrigerators and washing machines to U.S. homes for decades. Now the company is looking into delivering groceries too. The service, an expansion of Sears' year-old MyGofer online shopping portal, quietly launched on Memorial Day in Manhattan and in the Hamptons, said Tom Aiello, spokesman for the Hoffman Estates-based company. The home delivery service — which brings groceries, prescriptions, electronics and other goods from its Kmart stores — is slated to roll out to Chicago and other markets this summer, he said.

Catalogers’ Updates Acquisitions Multichannel apparel and home products merchant Appleseed’s, a portfolio company of private equity firm Golden Gate capital, acquired in January apparel and home goods cataloger Blair Corp. The deal, expected to close later this spring, is valued at $173.6 million. Musician’s Friend catalog, a subsidiary of Guitar Center, in February acquired multititle musical instrument merchant The Woodwind and Brasswind. The $29.9 million transaction has been approved following a stalled purchase attempt in November. Finance Private equity firm Parallel Investment Part-ners in January completed the recapitalization of multichannel outdoor apparel and equipment merchant Moosejaw Mountaineering and Backcountry Travel. Furthermore … Multititle general merchandise cataloger Miles Kimball Co. will